Monday, November 23, 2009

Today I received an email saying the the syncing of lv2core-3.0 was effected closing LP: #479703 (which you may notice was filed by me).

LV2 effectively replaces the LADSPA API for plugin effects and is a big first step for the Ubuntu Studio developers to update to the latest version of LV2 and incorporate numerous additional effects that were not present in Karmic. But there is still many other steps to take, which are not directly dependent on me.

Interestingly enough, if you look at the Launchpad lv2core source the changelog was, um, changed and includes my name/email for the initial Ubuntu release. This changelog will stay with lv2core-3.x associating me with the initial release, so I'm relatively immortal and famous now.

I believe now that the current lv2core is in Ubuntu I need to file a Launchpad bug for a sync of Ardour from Debian.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

I've managed to discuss the blog (at length) but not really explain what I am trying to accomplish. Redressment, therefore, is in order.

Firstly, I felt a need to contribute back to Ubuntu Studio and the Ubuntu community. Ubuntu Studio is an awesomely functional and powerful operating system with equally potent applications, all provided free (as in beer). Such a gift, freely given, humbles me and compels me to help as I can in turn.

I feel that contributions in this arena will be comprised of testing and documentation. These are areas that do not require any substantial or overtly specialized knowledge and provide an easy subject into which to integrate. Easing the transition of new people into helping in these areas would be considered a secondary goal.

Secondly, and slightly less altruistically, I want to focus on provided continually updated back ports of applications for the Ubuntu Studio LTS (long term support) version. The main impetus for this commitment is derived because I use the LTS version for stability but crave the new (and proven) application features of subsequent releases.

Therefore I expect to maintain a continual sense of activity of back porting applications such as JACK and Ardour. I say a "sense of activity" because this is not a day-to-day activity, rather it will be a recurring, sporadic activity based upon application updates. But, I also feel it is an incredibly important, undermanned and undervalued activity. I am humbled with the sense of responsibility to help fill the need.

Additionally, I would like to also learn about packaging from scratch. Learning packaging from scratch would provide incredible amounts of knowledge so that I may be more helpful to the Ubuntu Studio developers. This could help resolve bugs in packaging or perhaps package new applications as they are available.

Lastly, I hope to be considered among the ranks of Ubuntu Studio developers. Vainglorious perhaps, but this would give me a sense of accomplishment, a validation of my contributions and a sense of acceptance into such a niche group.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

I had started using my FOSS Music Project blog to document some of my packaging for Ubuntu Studio. The intention was to document what was required for later backport packaging using a relatively unused blog.

But now that I have started this one, these items should really fall under this domain. But rather than repost everything here I will simply link back to the other one.

prevu (part I) - installing, initializing and using it to packagelibffado - building it as a dependency for building JACKlibcelt - building it as a dependency for building JACKJACK - building JACK 0.116.1VAMP - building it as a dependency for building Ardourcdbs - building it as a dependency for building soundtouch as a dependency for building Ardourlibtouch - building it as a dependency for building soundtouch as a dependency for building Ardoursoundtouch - building it as a dependency for building Ardourprevu (part II) - better understanding of prevuArdour - building Ardour 2.7.2

After I built all this for the expressed purpose of backporting Ardour and JACK (with FFADO support) I came to the realization that the .deb files on my computer would not work. Well, they worked but they would not be accepted for backporting purposes. This led me to begin building things in my ppa.

I noticed that I stopped posting about my builds. I should probably post some updates soon before I forget some of the things I did. Or have I already?

Upon review, it appears that I followed the exact prevu building experience as far as order goes. I followed the operational procedure per the FFADO-ppa above.

I also remember trying to build some tools to help with a sync request for lvs2core. ubuntu-dev-tools had a sync request script that I wanted to use but it was not included in the version ofubuntu-dev-tools included in Hardy.

I found myself on a sick cycle of having to build more and more applications trying to finally build ubuntu-dev-tools. In the end I imported my gpg key into my Ubuntu Studio 9.10 install from my 8.04 dev partition. The blog post listed below helped with the gpg key import and clarified a few points about my ppa.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

This blog has made a slight transmogrification and therefore deserves some explanation.

This blog was my original foray into blogging. I thought I could post a commentary about life, a semi-autobiographical affair, which ultimately failed miserably. But this provided the impetus for another blog which would serve as a sort of literary experiment and not meant for pedestrian eyes.

Next, I began what I name the FOSS Music Project, with accompanying blog. In short, the goal of the project was to document the accessibility and quality of Free Open Source Software for recording music. In particular, this would feature Ubuntu Studio but would easily translate into almost all of the other Linux distributions.

This project also meet at untimely demise as I became more involved with Ubuntu Studio and the Ubuntu Studio developers. Demise is really too strong of a word since only some of the goals for the project are being addressed by working with the Ubuntu Studio developers. Rather it's time has not come as I will revisit it later.

But as I began working with the Ubuntu Studio developers I realized that I needed a place to document some of the things I did and therefore I started to use the FOSS Music Project blog. This concerned me because I felt that the FOSS Music Project needed to happen and would when its time was appropriate.

So, I have started this blog. It's goal is to document my travails as I work with Ubuntu Studio and the developers on my quest to be considered among their austere ranks.

Lastly, I want to mention that I have purged any non-related posts from this blog in order to fit in with the current scope and, as they were random thoughts of no significance, it bears no concern. Additionally, I moderated the first post to reflect the subject matter, which does somewhat present me with some concern.

Purging unnecessary content does not present me with any untoward feelings, but subjectively modifying content does. Note that I contrast this with making editorial changes.